The California Democrats' Culture of Corruption

Democrats tagged the Republicans with a War on Corruption in 2006. Congressmen Bob Ney of Ohio and Randy “Duke” Cunningham of San Diego, House Majority Leader Tom Delay and Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska were under criminal prosecution or had pled guilty while Congressman Mark Foley of Florida was sending illicit emails to minor boys. Corruption though is a non-partisan, bipartisan activity. Adultery, corruption, and other defalcations in office are equal opportunity scandals, except that corruption is more common with majority parties since they possess power. As Lord Acton said: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” California is a one party state, so blue that the Democrats controlled a supermajority in both houses of the legislature until a few weeks ago. Senator Leland Yee (D. San Francisco/San Mateo) was arrested and indicted in a FBI sting last Wednesday on 7 counts of seeking political favors and a gun trafficking scheme. His arrest was a surprise and shock. He was an avid gun control legislator and preached transparency in government. Senator Yee unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of San Francisco in 2011. His unsuccessful campaign is still $70,000 in debt, which he is trying to work off. One of the allegations associates him with a Chinatown gangster, Raymond "Baby Shrimp" Chow. Senator Yee is one an FBI tape saying: "I'm just trying to run for Secretary of State. I hope I don't get indicted." He is no longer running for SEcretary of State. I left San Francisco in 1970 and am now shocked to read that San Francisco is one of the cities known for “pay to play,” which is better associated with some cities and states elsewhere in the country and state. Senator Ron Calderon’s (D Montebello) indictment on February 21 was not a total surprise. The FBI raided his offices last June. He is from a long established political family in a section of Los Angeles not known for political integrity. One of the charges was interesting. Instead of directly taking a bribe for himself, the bribe was shunted to his brother Tom, a former Assemblyman and a political consultant, in exchange for the Senator running political favors. The Senator was hit with 24 counts of bribery, wire fraud, money laundering, and filing false tax returns. The FBI has him on tape. Senator Roderick Wright (D. Inglewood) was convicted on January 28 on eight counts of perjury and voter fraud in lying about his legal residence. He claimed to be a resident of the Inglewood district he represented, but his actual residence was outside the district in Baldwin Hills. The 40 member state Senate voted 28-1 on Friday to suspend the three Senators. The last Senate expulsion was 1905. The one no vote was from Republican Joel Anderson of Alpine, who wanted them expelled. Apparently under the California Constitution the Senators will continue to receive their annual salary of $95,291 until they leave office. The current makeup of the California Senate is 28 Democrats and 11 Republicans with one vacancy. The Democrats now lack the 2/3 supermajority needed to pass tax increases or a constitutional amendment. California Democrats swept the 2012 elections, riding President Obama’s coattails. They gained four Congressional seats, won all eight statewide positions, and reaped a supermajority in both the State assembly and Senate. California became a one party state at the state level. Sadly, the three state Senate scandals, which may not be the last, probably will not revive the sinking California Republican Party. The changing demographics in the state, coupled with the 2010 Gerrymandering, pose too large an obstacle for Republicans in California.

The Copenhagen Zoo Does It Again: It Slaughters a Family of Four Lions

The Copenhagen Zoo bred, named, raised and killed Marius, a two year old giraffe, last month. The zoo then publicly dissected Marius and fed the pieces to the lions and tigers at the zoo as an educational lesson for Denmark’s youth. The zoo slaughtered a family of lions, the parents and their two healthy cubs, last Monday. These lions had feasted on Marius. We don’t know who fed on the four lion carcasses. The zoo killed the four lions to make room for a three year old male lion, a 1:4 tradeoff. The zoo explained the two parents were elderly, the King of the Jungle was 16 and his consort 14 – too old to breed. In zoo view they had outlived their purpose and hence were expendable. They had to make way for a genetic superior, a new Lion King. We would call this act “elder abuse” if it were humans. Stefan Straede, the zoo director, described the new male: “He is a beautiful young male and I am certain he will be an impressive ambassador for his species,” as if the euthanized male was not. The zoo claimed the two cubs were killed because they could not survive on the own. If they did, the new male would have killed them at the first opportunity. Their dad died because the zoo was scared he would mate with his cubs. The zoo is opposed to incest, but practices eugenics. European zoos believe in “humanely” culling a species. American zoos believe in contraception. A public outcry responded to the killing of Marius. Zoo staffers received death threats. Denmark became known as the country that killed giraffes. PETA placed an anti-zoo billboard outside the zoo's entrance. The zoo’s officers are proud of their actions. They are oblivious to the protests.

President Putin's Ambitions

Vladimir Putin is easy to understand. He don't need a gypsy fortune teller to foretell his future. He has the DNA of the five centuries of tzars and commissars who preceded him. They all possessed the common goals of land expansion and a warm water port. They have all been patient. President Putin is accused of acting like in a 19th Century way. Look at the 19th Century Russian Empire. Putin’s goal is not, as often commented, the resurrection of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It is rather the rebirth of the Russian Empire built by the tzars and destroyed by World War I and the Bolsheviks. It was the third largest empire by land in history, exceeded only by the British Empire and the Mongol Empire. Here’s what that list includes: Crimea Eastern Ukraine The Ukraine Georgia (what’s left of Georgia after Russia seized Abkhazia and Ossetia in 2008) Poland Finland The Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania Azerbaijan Armenia Mongolia Belarus Moldova President Putin may want to reacquire the “stans,” Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, but only if he wishes more conflict as in Chechnya. He may have eyes on parts of Turkey (Kars, Ardahan, and Igdir), previously part of Armenia. The tzars and Stalin wanted control of the Turkish Straits (The Dardanelles and Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara), but never succeeded on securing the access from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea and their naval bases in Sevastopol and the Crimea.. Finally, one more piece of the Russian Empire exists: Alaska, which is already a red state in President Obama's eyes.

Will Sweater Vest Become the Next President of the University of Akron Zips?

Sweater Vest, aka Jim Tressel, has thrown his sweater into the University of Akron presidential search. Coach Tressel does not possess the normal qualifications for a university presidency. He lacks a doctorate, hasn’t published scholarship or delved into research on the cutting edge. His expertise lies within the Horseshoe. He has little administrative experience, currently serving at Akron as Executive Vice President for Student Success. Forget a high paid search committee, Sweater Vest self-nominated himself. His teaching experience at Akron is co-teaching a course “Principles of Coaching,” at which he failed three years earlier at The Ohio State University. He is also the only candidate, of 19 so far, under a five year NCAA “show cause” order in effect into 2016. The man knows no shame. He doesn’t need the traditional qualifications. This is Ohio. Paul Janssen is a brilliant professor of physiology cell biology and cardiovascular medicine at Ohio State. He has published scores of scientific papers, but his claim to fame is spending over 1,000 hours over two years in building in his basement a 8'X6' 1,000,000 LEGO piece replica of Ohio Stadium (The Horseshoe Stadium)with 6,000 seats. That is Ohio. The defrocked football coach’s qualifications are an 8-1 winning record against Michigan and a national championship in 2002. He is beloved in Ohio. The most important skill of a university president is fundraising. Tressel can raise his weight in Buckeye leaves and tattoos in Ohio. He might also be able to wrestle additional funding for Akron from the state legislature. However, beating Michigan is child’s play compared to fighting the public employee unions for public funds. A college president has to be a conciliatory peacemaker getting warring factions to work together. Jim Tressel’s experience as a head football coach, is as a dictator, the opposite of a university president. Faculty politics are vicious, the subtleties of which are alien to football coaches. I respect Jim Tressel as a great football coach just as I respected John Wooden as a great basketball coach eventhough they consistently beat my alma maters in football and basketball respectively. I also respected John Wooden as a person. He had plain, simple Midwest values. I’m not so sure about Tressel the man. He had a history at Youngstown State and Ohio State of willfully blinding himself to major player infractions. He also failed at Ohio State to report transgressions to the administration. Integrity is not his forte. I have served under five university presidents and 10 law school deans in 42 years of teaching. The first President, Samuel L. Meyer of Ohio Northern, and Jim Doti here at Chapman excel. Another aging retired president is still alive, so I will not publicly identify the disingenuous Janus by name. Academicians, politicians, businessmen have become presidents of colleges, but not a football coach. Jim Tressel is not William Oxley Thompson. Think of the reactions of the disappointed candidates if Sweater Vest is appointed President: “I lost to that,” as Akron and Ohio become the butt of national derision.

The Mystery Continues for Malaysian Flight 370

The Mysteries of Malaysia 370 The Malaysia Government declared Flight 370 lost in the South Indian Ocean with all 239 souls on board lost. That solves one mystery – the fate of 370, but opens new mysteries. How did the plane fly so far off course? Theories: Pilot suicide A hijacking gone bad A complete mechanical failure An external hacking of the plane’s computer system A cargo fire Four planes are believed to have crashed because of pilot suicide, but that doesn’t explain how the plane managed to fly 7 hours, presumably on autopilot until it ran out of fuel. A suicidal pilot could simply have dived the plane into the ocean from a high altitude. A hijacking could have resulted in a fight with the plane supposedly soaring to 45,000’ and then plunging down until stabilized at a lower altitude. All on board could have died under those circumstances. A complete mechanical failure is a possibility, but what is the cause? Perhaps a computer takeover by a hacker. This scenario has become a common theme in Hollywood. The pilots would be unable to control the plane and external communications blocked. A fire in the cargo hold could have knocked out the transponders and other communications before the pilots became away of what was happening. Their subsequent turning back at a lower altitude may have been an attempt to safely land the plane. We now know the cargo contained a shipment of lithium ion batteries, which have been involved in about 140 aircraft fires over the past 25 years according to Business Insider reports. A UPS cargo pane crashed in Dubai in 2010. Lithium-ion batteries were responsible for a fire, which filled the cockpit with smoke and interfered with communications and controls. Lithium-ion batteries, widely used in smart phones and laptop computers, have a risk of overheating, spontaneously exploding and catching on fire. Over 10 million laptops have been recalled over the past decade by Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Toshiba. Nokia recalled 46 million cellphone batteries. One final question: What has been the role of the United States, the military, NSA, and CIA, and satellites in the investigation of the missing airline? Does the United States government know more than it is publicizing? The mystery can be solved when the black boxes are recovered, a substantial piece of the fuselage is retrieved, and some bodies, especially those of the pilot or co-pilot are autopsied. The fuselage will tell us if a fire or explosion occurred. The autopsies can determine of the flyers were dead before the crash. The black boxes tell us the flight dynamics and the cockpit conversations. Of course, if all this is wrong, we are back to the underlying conspiracy theory: the plane was hijacked and is somewhere in Pakistan.

Shills for ObamaCare

President Obama (He signed up for the cheapest D.C exchange plan, but he won’t use it) Michelle Obama (She won’t use ObamaCare) Kathleen Sibelius (She doesn’t even know what’s in the Act) Lady Gaga (Certainly not a reason to do anything) Pajama Boy (Rumors are he’s engaged to Julia) Roy Williams (Worry about March Madness) Gino Aurieimma (He will get the best of UConn medical care without ObamaCare)) Zach Galifianakis (Has ObamaCare become a farce?)) LeBron James (He will get the best of NBA Care) Richard Simmons (Whoever in Covered California thought he would appeal to the young????) Will Farrell (Always the comedian) Olivia Wilde Amy Poehler Connie Britton Ryan Secrest Pearl Jam Rosario Dawson Nsync Most Hollywood A List supporters of President Obama are avoiding ObamaCare like the plague AARP (ObamaCare exempts AATP’s MediGap policies) The late Andy Griffith (He has no need for it) Michael Hiltzik (The quasi-socialist business reporter for the Los Angeles Times) Never underestimate a community organizer!

Disney is Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of "It's a Small World." Why?

It’s a Small World is a wonderful Disney Ride. It epitomizes the creativity and genius of Walt Disney. The 15 minute Disneyland ride through a veritable United Nations of 437 audioanimatronic children is a pleasant respite after Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, the Matterhorn and The Hollywood Tower of Terror. But the song! “It’s a Small, Small, Small, Small, Small, Small, Small, Small World, After All” is sheer torture. Forget waterboarding. The CIA should have used it at Gitmo on a continuous loop. Even the most zealot Al Qaeda would have broken down. Ask anyone who’s been on the ride what they think. They love it, but that song just sticks in their brains like a bad migraine. I love the ride. I've ridden it many times,but not for the music. The Walt Disney Company is celebrating on April 10, 2014 the 50th anniversary of “It’s a Small World” at all its worldwide theme parks by having guests and cast members sing the song together - a singalong, guaranteed to drive non-singing guests out of the parks. April 10 is not the actual 50th Anniversary. The ride premiered on April 22, 1964 at the New York World’s Fair, where it became an instant hit. It was Walt Disney’s salute to UNICEF, a salute sung by the tiny children in English, French, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish to the same tune. It’s a small world, after all. The lyrics are idealistic: “It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears It’s a world of hopes and a world of fear There’s so much that we share that’s it’s time We’re aware It’s a small world after all It’s a small world after all It’s a small world after all It’s a small world after all It’s a small, small world” And on and on and on and on! All most listeners remember is “It’s a small, small, small world, after all” on a continuous loop. The diagnosis is post traumatic song syndrome (PTSS) for which total abstinence is the cure. It can be prevented by using the same earplugs available at monster truck rallies, or by viewing It's a Small World on YouTube with the volume muted. Universality is a wonderful ideal, but not the song. It cannot bring peace and quiet to the world. Disney breaks the loop during the Holidays by adding Christmas carols to the singing. That’s when you should take the ride. The New York ride was 10 minutes. Disneyland increased it to 15 minutes, a 50% increase that stretched the limits of tolerance. Disney is not concerned about the specifics of 50th Anniversaries. The 50th Anniversary of Disneyland lasted 18 months. Do the celebration, but please, hold off the singalong.